British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford (Image credit: Shane Stokes)
The Team Sky bus arrives in Charleroi(Image credit: Richard Tyler)
The Team Sky Pinarello bikes(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Team Sky will not renew Dr. Geert Leinders' contract with the team. The former Rabobank doctor was signed to the team in the winter of 2010 but found himself at the centre of a media storm during this year's Tour de France due to his links to alleged doping practices during his time with Rabobank.
Although the doctor was not part of Sky's Tour de France staff, the team's principal, Dave Brailsford, informed the press that he would lead a full investigation into the hiring of Leinders and his alleged links to doping.
The investigation has now concluded and a Sky spokesperson confirmed to Cyclingnews that Leinders would not work with the team in the future. Sky would not confirm why Leinders had not been offered a contract for the future.
"Dr Leinders worked with Team Sky on a freelance basis and that has now ended. This summer as promised we looked fully into his work and interviewed him and talked to riders and the full medical team. We have no doubts about his work with us or approach. Over the summer we have added to the medical team using staff from outside cycling and we continually look for the best way to work and to support our riders."
The spokesperson added that it was not accurate to state that Leinders had been fired from the team although Cyclingnews understands that the decision not to renew the doctor's contract was made at least a fortnight ago.
Leinders was the team doctor with the Rabobank team in 2007 when Michael Rasmussen was expelled from the Tour de France while in yellow for evading doping controls in the build-up to the race. He left Rabobank in 2009.
In May of this year, former Rabobank manager Theo De Rooy told Volksrant that doping had been tolerated on the Dutch team up until at least 2007, saying that it was "a deliberate decision of the medical staff."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
